Postdoctoral Studies

University of California Los Angeles
Postdoctoral Research in Molecular and Medical Pharmacology - 2010-present

Graduate Studies

University of California Berkeley
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry - 2009

Undergraduate Studies

University of California Riverside
Bachelor of Science in Pure and Applied Chemistry - 2003

University of California Berkeley, Department of Chemistry, Advisor: Heino Nitsche, 2005-2009
Graduate student studying nuclear & radiochemistry, materials chemistry, and electronics & circuit design. The thesis focused on three research topics that were distinctly different but broadly centered around developing new methods to perform transactinide gas-phase chemistry. First, the application of a new materials science methodology, Polymer-Assisted Deposition (PAD), to target manufacturing. Second, the construction of a new experimental apparatus to conduct gas-phase chemistry and the design of circuits and electronics for the measurement of alpha-decay energy. Third, a new nuclear reaction for the production of ²⁶¹Rf, an ideal candidate for gas-phase chemistry due to its relatively-long half life (t_1/2 = 69 s).

University of California Berkeley, Department of Chemistry, Advisor: Peter Vollhardt, 2003-2005
Graduate student studying organic synthesis and physical organic chemistry. The projects were centered on the synthesis of various high-strain phenylene systems.

University of California Berkeley, Department of Chemistry, Advisor: Joseph Cerny, Summer 2002
Undergraduate student studying nuclear chemistry. The project was to develop software that would model the kinematics of Neon-18 decay through the emission of two protons.

University of California Riverside, Department of Chemistry, Advisor: Michael Marsella, 2000 - 2003
Undergraduate student studying organic synthesis and polymer chemistry. The project involved synthesizing dimethyldihydropyrene analogs for use as molecular switches.

1. Nature Chemistry -- Smarten up (2010)
   DOI: 10.1038/nchem.601
2. Chemical & Engineering News Blog -- Blogger In The Press Room (2008)
   http://cenblog.org/2008/08/22/blogger-in-the-press-room/
3. Chemical & Engineering News Blog -- Chemistry And The Interweb (2008)
   http://cenblog.org/2008/04/07/chemistry-and-the-interweb/
4. Nature -- The new networking nexus (2008)
   DOI:10.1038/nj7181-1024a
5. Chemical & Engineering News -- Bloggers Anonymous (2007)
   http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/85/8505sci2.html/
6. Chemistry Blog - Blogger (2005-present)
   http://www.chemistry-blog.com/
   
7. Chemical Forums - Administrator (2003-present)
   http://www.chemicalforums.com/
   
8. UC LEADS Scholar (2001-2003)
   http://www.ucop.edu/ucleads/
   

1. Research Mentor for Berkeley Undergraduate Jonathan Glidden (2008-2009)
   
2. Research Mentor for Berkeley Undergraduate Noel N. Chang (2007-2009) (now @ UIUC)
   
3. Research Mentor for Berkeley Undergraduate Mazhar N. Ali (2007-2009)
   
4. Graduate Student Instructor for Nuclear Chemistry (2006)
   
5. Graduate Student Instructor for Organic Chemistry I (2005)
   
6. Graduate Student Instructor for Organic Chemistry I (2003)
   
7. Undergraduate Student Instructor for Advanced Structural and Synthetic Methods (2003)
   
8. Undergraduate Student Instructor for General Chemistry I (2003)
   

1. Garcia, M.A. "The race for rutherfordium" Nature Chemistry 2010 2, 66. DOI:10.1038/nchem.499

2. Düllmann, Ch. E.; Gregorich, K. E.; Pang, G. K.; Dragojevic, I.; Eichler, Robert; Folden III, C.M.; Garcia, M. A.; Gates, J. M.; Hoffman, D.C.; Nelson, S. L.; Sudowe, R; Nitsche, H "Gas chemical investigation of hafnium and zirconium complexes with hexafluoroacetylacetone using preseparated short-lived radioisotopes" Radiochimica Acta 2009 97(8), 403-418. DOI:10.1524/ract.2009.1630

3. C. M. Folden III, I. Dragojevic, Ch. E. Düllmann, R. Eichler, M. A. Garcia, J. M. Gates, S. L. Nelson, R. Sudowe, K. E. Gregorich, D. C. Hoffman, H. Nitsche "Measurement of the ²⁰⁸Pb(⁵²Cr,n)²⁵⁹Sg excitation function" Phys. Rev. C 2009 79, 027602. DOI:10.1103/PhysRevC.79.027602

4. Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Chang, N.N.; Parsons-Moss, T; Ashby, P.D.; Gates, J.M.; Stavsetra, L.; Gregorich, K.E.; Nitsche, H. "Heavy-ion irradiation of thulium(III) oxide targets prepared by polymer-assisted deposition" Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 2008 592, 483-485. DOI:10.1016/j.nima.2008.04.077

5. Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Parsons-Moss, T; Ashby, P.D.; Nitsche, H. "Metal oxide films produced by polymer-assisted deposition (PAD) for nuclear science applications" Thin Solid Films 2008 516, 6261-6265. DOI:10.1016/j.tsf.2007.11.127
6. Gates, J.M.; Garcia, M.A.; Gregorich, K.E.; Dullmann, Ch.E.; Dragojevic, I.; Dvorak, J.; Eichler, R.; Folden III, C.M.; Loveland, W.; Nelson, S.L.; Pang, G.K.; Stavsetra, L; Sudowe, R.; Turler, A.; Nitsche, H. "Synthesis of rutherfordium isotopes in the ²³⁸U(²⁶Mg, xn)^264-xRf reaction and study of their decay properties" Phys. Rev. C 2008 77, 034603-034609. DOI:10.1103/PhysRevC.77.034603
7. Dragojevic, I.; Gregorich, K.E.; Düllmann, Ch. E.; Garcia, M.A.; Gates, J.M.; Nelson, S.L.; Stavsetra, L.; Sudowe, R.; Nitsche, H. "Influence of projectile neutron number in the ²⁰⁸Pb(⁴⁸Ti, n)²⁵⁵Rf and ²⁰⁸Pb(⁵⁰Ti, n)²⁵⁷Rf reactions" Phys. Rev. C 2008 78, 024605. DOI:10.1103/PhysRevC.78.024605
8. Nelson, S.L.; Folden III, C.M.; Gregorich, K.E.; Dragojevic, I.; Düllmann, Ch. E.; Eichler, R.; Garcia, M.A.; Gates, J.M.; Sudowe, R.; Nitsche, H. "Comparison of complementary reactions for the production of ^261,262Bh" Phys. Rev. C 2008 78, 024606. DOI:10.1103/PhysRevC.78.024606
9. Nelson, S.L.; Gregorich, K.E.; Dragojevic, I; Garcia, M.A.; Sudowe, R.; Nitsche, H. "Lightest Isotope of Bh Produced via the 209Bi(52Cr,n)260Bh Reaction" Phys. Rev. Lett. 2008 100, 022501-4. DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.022501

1. Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Chang, N.N.; Parsons-Moss, T; Ashby, P.D.; Nitsche, H. "Metal Oxide Targets Produced by the Polymer-Assisted Deposition Method" 24th World Conference of the International Nuclear Target Development Society, Caen, France, September 15-19, 2008. (oral)
2. Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Chang, N.N.; Parsons-Moss, T; Ashby, P.D.; Nitsche, H. "Using Polymer-Assisted Deposition for Nuclear Science Applications" 236th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Philadelphia, PA, August 17-21, 2008. (oral)
3. Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Chang, N.N.; Nitsche, H. "Development of chemical forums, blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, crowdsourcing, and social bookmarking websites for chemistry" 235th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008. (oral)
4. Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Chang, N.N.; Parsons-Moss, T; Ashby, P.D.; Nitsche, H. "Metal Oxide Films Produced by Polymer-Assisted Deposition (PAD) for Nuclear Science Applications " 2007 Molecular Foundry User Meeting, Berkeley, California 2007. (poster)